Charter Schools,

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's education commissioner resigned Thursday amid allegations that he changed the grade of a charter school run by a major Republican donor during his previous job as Indiana's school chief.

Tony Bennett announced his immediate resignation at a news conference, saying that he while he did nothing wrong he didn't want to be a distraction to Gov. Rick Scott's efforts to overhaul Florida's education system. Emails published by The Associated Press this week show that Bennett and his Indiana staff scrambled last fall to ensure Christel DeHaan's school received an A, despite poor 10th-grade algebra scores that initially earned it a C.

Bennett called that interpretation "malicious and unfounded" and said he would call for Indiana's inspector general to look into the allegations because he is certain he will be cleared of wrongdoing.

He said it would be unfair to Scott "to have to spend my time and the State Board (of Education's) time, as things continue to trickle out, defending myself." He called the allegations "politically motivated."

Bennett lost his re-election bid last November in Indiana. He was hired by Florida as its education commissioner, a nonelected post, in December.

Scott, at an appearance in South Florida, said he had not fired Bennett or demanded his resignation.

"He let me know that he was going to resign. It was his decision," Scott said at a charity event in Delray Beach. "Tony did a good job here. ... We're doing well in education." Scott refused to answer questions about the accusations against Bennett in Indiana. Bennett is the third education commissioner to leave office since Scott became governor in January 2011.

Indiana uses A-F grades to determine which schools get taken over by the state and whether students seeking state-funded vouchers to attend private school need to first spend a year in public school. They also help determine how much state funding schools receive. A low grade also can detract from a neighborhood and drive homebuyers elsewhere.

After Bennett learned about a likely low grade for Christel House, he fired off an email last Sept. 12 to his chief of staff.

"This will be a HUGE problem for us," Bennett wrote. "They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work."

Bennett, who had been reworking Florida's grading system as the state's education commissioner, denied that DeHaan's Christel House Academy school received special treatment. He said earlier this week that discovering that the charter would receive a low grade raised broader concerns with grades for other "combined" schools — those that included multiple grade levels — across the state.

The revelations that Bennett and Indiana officials scrambled to change the grade of one school come amid a strong debate over Florida's grading system.

Bennett earlier this month pushed the Florida board that oversees education policy to adopt a "safety net" provision that prevented the grades of more than 500 schools from dropping more than one grade this year.

That provision was adopted by a 4-3 vote amid much debate and criticism that the move would "mask" the true performance of schools. Bennett's plan was even opposed by the education foundation set up by Bush. The grades released last week still showed a sharp drop in the number of A-rated schools and a jump in the number of F-rated ones.

Wow. How honored we are that you took time off from your time off to come share an anecdote about an allegation made that may or may not be true about a single charter school, as if it means anything in the grand scheme of the effectiveness of the system, or that things like this never happen with public school administrators.

And yet had this charter school been deemed a success the reports would have been regurgitated on the various propaganda cable and radio outlets and promptly regurgitated here by the zombies

I hope copernicus continues to enjoy his time off because a teacher that does their job properly today must wear many hats beyond writing lesson plans and teaching. In far too many cases teachers have to be a parent (for a multitude of reasons), psychologist and counselor.

But some would have us believe that teachers are not supposed to say these things because they should not ever complain. Its true; only the plight of the overtaxed 1% needs to be documented and discussed.

Message to copernicus; keep fighting the good fight because as you know its a wonderful profession.

We live in strange times when teachers are vilified and white collar criminals who helped send us over the economic cliff are punished by receiving taxpayer bailout money-to help bail them out of the corrupt mess they created.

Emails published by The Associated Press this week show that Bennett and his Indiana staff scrambled last fall to ensure Christel DeHaan's school received an A, despite poor 10th-grade algebra scores that initially earned it a C.

Bennett called that interpretation "malicious and unfounded" and said he would call for Indiana's inspector general to look into the allegations because he is certain he will be cleared of wrongdoing.

If grades were changed falsely or for political reasons, that is unacceptable and should be investigated.

I look forward to follow up as to what that investigation reveals.

Thank you for reposting this from the Teacher's Union Political Talking Points Newsletter, as not all of us recieve it.

Big Atari Eyeroll says hi

LOL at this thread. Honestly after all the reports we've seen of union public school teachers helping students cheat on their standardized tests and changing answers and grades it evens it out a bit to know that one charter school may or may not have tried to use political influence to get their grade changed.

Meanwhile in the real world Copernicus, when we look at the problems in the inner cities from a common sense perspective there are some truths that we need to face. First a large swath of inner city kids are not cut out for traditional academics. Another large swath of those kids are motivated but stuck in warzone type schools. Kids should get the choice to attend technical high schools that teach things like Auto Shop, Machine Shop, Electrical and Plumbing, Cad Cam programming, etc. I think alot of the "troublemaker" type students would get a real shot at turning their life around and becomming productive members of society if they had some marketable skill and some desire. These kids inevitably end up dealing or using because they feel their only other option in life is slingin burgers at Mickey Dees. The students with desire and aptitude should be allowed the choice to go to charters that can give them a chance to get out of the warzone and a shot at a real education.

Lets talk about real solutions instead of whiney teachers union approved threads about one school that may or may not have done something unethical.

Wow. How honored we are that you took time off from your time off to come share an anecdote about an allegation made that may or may not be true about a single charter school, as if it means anything in the grand scheme of the effectiveness of the system, or that things like this never happen with public school administrators.

Right, I'm sure it's an isolated case.......:rolleyes

Even when it's is so blatantly obvious you simply ignore the fact that politicians and big business are working hand in hand to make huge profits off the backs of school children all the while demoralizing them.

LOL at this thread. Honestly after all the reports we've seen of union public school teachers helping students cheat on their standardized tests and changing answers and grades it evens it out a bit to know that one charter school may or may not have tried to use political influence to get their grade changed.

Meanwhile in the real world Copernicus, when we look at the problems in the inner cities from a common sense perspective there are some truths that we need to face. First a large swath of inner city kids are not cut out for traditional academics. Another large swath of those kids are motivated but stuck in warzone type schools. Kids should get the choice to attend technical high schools that teach things like Auto Shop, Machine Shop, Electrical and Plumbing, Cad Cam programming, etc. I think alot of the "troublemaker" type students would get a real shot at turning their life around and becomming productive members of society if they had some marketable skill and some desire. These kids inevitably end up dealing or using because they feel their only other option in life is slingin burgers at Mickey Dees. The students with desire and aptitude should be allowed the choice to go to charters that can give them a chance to get out of the warzone and a shot at a real education.

Lets talk about real solutions instead of whiney teachers union approved threads about one school that may or may not have done something unethical.

This subjects is so out of your league it's ridiculous. Do you really think its the teachers solely changing grades?

This is big business at its worst, it's why the business model does not work in public schools.

Do you even undersandwhat a charter school is? It takes away funds from public schools all the while make profit off the backs off school kids pushing their own agenda's and obviously not having to follow the the same rules as the rest. You realize that charter schools use public buildings rent free?

Did you actually read Bennett's emails? How incriminating they are at such a high level of government?

And all you can come up with is that this is some sort of whiney union teacher agenda.

And yet had this charter school been deemed a success the reports would have been regurgitated on the various propaganda cable and radio outlets and promptly regurgitated here by the zombies

I hope copernicus continues to enjoy his time off because a teacher that does their job properly today must wear many hats beyond writing lesson plans and teaching. In far too many cases teachers have to be a parent (for a multitude of reasons), psychologist and counselor.

But some would have us believe that teachers are not supposed to say these things because they should not ever complain. Its true; only the plight of the overtaxed 1% needs to be documented and discussed.

Message to copernicus; keep fighting the good fight because as you know its a wonderful profession.

We live in strange times when teachers are vilified and white collar criminals who helped send us over the economic cliff are punished by receiving taxpayer bailout money-to help bail them out of the corrupt mess they created.

So let me get this straight, a major government official that is tied to big bucks being made through education gets blatantly caught changing grades to benefit a highly controversial idea like charter schools and your response is that it has only been covered by pro union media? did you open the like and see that it was covered by ABC Florida? It's as simple as googling his name (Tony Bennett) and numerous media outlets have covered this story without one defending him. How could they, he resigned because he was blatantly fraudulent!

Some of you guys are so pathetic in your hatred for teachers that you will go to any extent to defend government officials make HUGE profit using your tax dollar.

What I want is for Teacher's compensation to be more in line with the rest of us.

--I want Teachers to work a full year, no more summers off. Would be good for kids too, and for law enforcement.
--I want Teachers to lose their golden benefits package of healthcare and reirement. They can join the Obamacare exchanges, and can keep their retirement, but they'd have to trade a substantial portion of pay, just like the rest of us do.
--I want Teachers to be banned from engaging in politics in their in-class education. Should be a no brainer.
--I want Teachers to stop having sex with their students. Also should be a no brainer, yet teachers are the #1 abuser of non-familial children in America today.
--I want the Teacher's Union disbanded. Public employees should not be allowed under Law to Unionize, as the very idea is pure corruption and abuse of the taxpayer. It's role in Politics is abhorant.
--I want Teachers to understand they are only one of many public spending priorities. They are no more vital than many other things.
--I want Teachers to stop playing Martyr about their jobs. It's a job, and you're not a martyr, even if you choose to "buy supplies" for your class.
--I want real, private-setor-like, competititon and evaluation of Teachers performance, with real repurcussions for poor work and failing. I want tenure removed completely.

Basicly, I want Teachers to be treated like we treat almost every other job in AMerica today. Just compensation for just work, real evaluation, real competition, real limits of bias at the workplace, firings of bad teachers and a full year of labor for a full years pay.

The thread started by showing what happens when political donors sponsor charter schools. This guy changed 11 school grades in order to not embarrass the political donor.

Where do parents fall in all within all of your demands?

Originally Posted by Churchill

I don't hate teachers. Teachers and education are vital.

What I want is for Teacher's compensation to be more in line with the rest of us.

--I want Teachers to work a full year, no more summers off. Would be good for kids too, and for law enforcement.
--I want Teachers to lose their golden benefits package of healthcare and reirement. They can join the Obamacare exchanges, and can keep their retirement, but they'd have to trade a substantial portion of pay, just like the rest of us do.
--I want Teachers to be banned from engaging in politics in their in-class education. Should be a no brainer.
--I want Teachers to stop having sex with their students. Also should be a no brainer, yet teachers are the #1 abuser of non-familial children in America today.
--I want the Teacher's Union disbanded. Public employees should not be allowed under Law to Unionize, as the very idea is pure corruption and abuse of the taxpayer. It's role in Politics is abhorant.
--I want Teachers to understand they are only one of many public spending priorities. They are no more vital than many other things.
--I want Teachers to stop playing Martyr about their jobs. It's a job, and you're not a martyr, even if you choose to "buy supplies" for your class.
--I want real, private-setor-like, competititon and evaluation of Teachers performance, with real repurcussions for poor work and failing. I want tenure removed completely.

Basicly, I want Teachers to be treated like we treat almost every other job in AMerica today. Just compensation for just work, real evaluation, real competition, real limits of bias at the workplace, firings of bad teachers and a full year of labor for a full years pay.

Wow. How honored we are that you took time off from your time off to come share an anecdote about an allegation made that may or may not be true about a single charter school, as if it means anything in the grand scheme of the effectiveness of the system, or that things like this never happen with public school administrators.

Unions deplorable. Union membership across country at all time low but must bust remaining unions. More hours and less pay is goal. Keep salaries as low as possible for maximum profit. Find creative ways to offer no/poor health benefits for maximum profit. Figure out creative avenues to secure pension money to send to private entities. We spent a lot of money to purchase media so lets continue efforts to demonize workers so lemmings....er...um...citizens will support us.

What I want is for Teacher's compensation to be more in line with the rest of us.

--I want Teachers to work a full year, no more summers off. Would be good for kids too, and for law enforcement.
--I want Teachers to lose their golden benefits package of healthcare and reirement. They can join the Obamacare exchanges, and can keep their retirement, but they'd have to trade a substantial portion of pay, just like the rest of us do.
--I want Teachers to be banned from engaging in politics in their in-class education. Should be a no brainer.
--I want Teachers to stop having sex with their students. Also should be a no brainer, yet teachers are the #1 abuser of non-familial children in America today.
--I want the Teacher's Union disbanded. Public employees should not be allowed under Law to Unionize, as the very idea is pure corruption and abuse of the taxpayer. It's role in Politics is abhorant.
--I want Teachers to understand they are only one of many public spending priorities. They are no more vital than many other things.
--I want Teachers to stop playing Martyr about their jobs. It's a job, and you're not a martyr, even if you choose to "buy supplies" for your class.
--I want real, private-setor-like, competititon and evaluation of Teachers performance, with real repurcussions for poor work and failing. I want tenure removed completely.

Basicly, I want Teachers to be treated like we treat almost every other job in AMerica today. Just compensation for just work, real evaluation, real competition, real limits of bias at the workplace, firings of bad teachers and a full year of labor for a full years pay.

This thread is not about what you think is unfair about the teaching proffesion as compared to other jobs. I'd really like to stick to the subject but will address your post.

Good lord, you are so disconnected from current school systems its frightening. Where do I start?

You want teachers to work a full year? Did you ever here of summer school? Camps run at public schools? When do you think a teacher gets the time to complete their masters and other numerous workshops that are mandatory? You are dillusional to think that school is not year round, it's up to the parent if they want their kid in a classroom or camp all year round. BTW, have you ever seen students in a classroom in May and June? They are burnt out beyond belief, but hey, who cares? You are more of an expert on the psychology of a child more that an educator right?

Golden benefit package? Are you upset that cops, firemen, and sanitation have better? Same vacation time and they get to choose when they want to take it. Retirement? Cop, fire, and sanitation, twenty years, full retirement. Teacher? Thirty.

Good teachers allow their students to make choices when it comes to politics. Have you read the "read alouds" for the state exams? Of course you haven't because the public is not aloud access. Well I can tell you it full propaganda to never question your government and be a good soldier. It's pathetic, but you wouldn't know, nor anyone because the govnment is hiding this from you.

You don't want unions? You seem like a smart guy. We witnessed what this countries elite did to its people before unions. Enough said, I have documented history on my side.

Cops, firemen, and sanitation workers who work in the inner city are not asked to buy their own uniforms and supplies to do their jobs but it seems fine with you that teachers are? And you want the school system to improve? Dillusional

You are somehow under the false idea that somehow I cannot be fired because of tenure. All tenure does is protect me from being fired unjustly. So big business and government can't swoop in and place unqualified teachers in the classroom to teach your kids.

You want teachers to be treated like everyone else? Really? Like being able to use the bathroom when they need?Choose their own vacations? Not have to work every weekend? Leave the job totally at quitting time? And not be blamed for the recession by the people who caused it?

I take most of your post as a rant at something you are more angry at, like maybe your own job?

Next you'll be saying that most of my spanish speaking students have deformed calfs from carrying too much pot across the desert